Economist Dimitris Papadimitriou has been appointed development minister, replacing George Stathakis who moved to the energy ministry, according to the changes announced late Friday.

Euclid Tsakalotos retained the finance portfolio, while Ioannis Mouzalas was elevated from deputy minister for immigration to head a separate immigration ministry. Tsipras also removed his education and religion minister, Nikos Filis, who was on bad terms with the country's powerful Orthodox Church.

Tsipras' Syriza party, re-elected in September 2015, has fallen well behind the main opposition conservatives in popularity as new income cuts and tax hikes demanded by the country's bailout creditors hurt ordinary Greeks.